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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Italian Arneis Wine for #WinePW

This month for our Wine Pairing Weekend is Valerie of Girls Gotta Drink. Val is originally from Colorado but after going on vacation in Italy and driving "the boot" she fell in love with Piedmont.
Val returned to Italy the following year but only visited Piedmont, decided this was her destiny and 8 months later moved. Now she blogs, runs, cooks, reads and drinks wine. Except for the running and living in Italy, she could be me LOL.

Val chose a local Italian wine, Arneis, for our #WinePW this month. Of course, being in Piedmont, this made sense for her but we, here in the States, did not have an easy time finding this varietal. Three of us found the one and only bottle in our areas wine stores. Maybe they only stock one to see if it will sell?

This grape was originally used to attract the bees and birds away from the wine grapes so the vines are very old. Eventually, three winemakers, including Alfredo Currado who made the wine I purchased, saved these grapes from extinction and began bottling it under their own labels. You can learn much more about this varietal by reading the entire article by Loren Sonkin.

I had to travel to the largest wine store in the area, which is about 40 miles from my house, to find this wine and when I finally found it they only had 1 bottle. Fortunately, for me, it was a bottle of Vietti Roero Arneis made by one of the founders, Currado. A quote from Currado graces the back of the bottle..."In 1967 I experimented with the Arneis grape from the few vines that were left in the Roero area. This is the result; and now some people consider me the father of Arneis wine".

On the front of the bottle is this glorious artwork featuring "old vines". I love that. Had there been more than one bottle to choose from I still would have chosen this just because of the great label. Yes, I have been known to buy wines because I like the label...that is quite an embarrassing disclosure when you are blogging for a wine site LOL.

Since I got the only bottle of this wine in Southeastern Michigan I couldn't even open one to try so that I could decide what dish it might complement. The article that I referred you to said that it pairs nicely with light pasta dishes and seafood. This made me decide that I would pair it with my Linguine with Clam Sauce. As luck would have it, my husband (who is not a seafood lover at all) had a work commitment that required him to attend a Tiger's ballgame. Yes, I feel sorry for him too, having such a tough job. But that gave me a green light to go ahead and invite Ting to join me because she, like me, is a huge seafood lover and really appreciates my Linguine with Clam Sauce.

I was very pleased with how the Arneis paired with the seafood pasta. I was also very appreciative of Val choosing a wine that I otherwise would probably never have tried. It is a clean, crisp white wine with a buttery finish to it. There is no oak flavor but the buttery flavor was reminiscent to me of some oak casked wines that I have enjoyed. The article, to which I referred earlier, did say that some winemakers were experimenting with oak casks but did not name Vietti specifically.

I would recommend that if you happen to come across a bottle of this wine that you snatch it up and try it for yourself perhaps with my recipe for Clam sauce because it was a very nice pairing if I do say so myself.

Wine Pairing Weekend July: Join us next month!

In July Americans celebrate Independence Day and the French celebrate Bastille Day. July's Wine Pairing Weekend will take place on Saturday, July 11, led by Michelle Williams of Rockin Red Blog. The group will explore food and wine pairings from the United States and France. From Michelle, Get creative and make your favorite all American food and wine meal, your favorite all French food and wine meal, one of each or a combination of both! With these two regions the sky is the limit!

16 comments:

We also had the same wine and for the same reason. It seemed it was the only Arneis in the tri-state area. (I may be exaggerating a bit- but in our area this was it) We felt lucky to have found it, and once tasted it, we were sad this is it- we will have to keep an eye out, maybe more will sneak into the area.

Wow! You did quite the jaunt for the wine. That's dedication. I thank you kindly! I am so glad you enjoyed it (I'd have felt like such a heel if not!) One of my favorite things about my new little Italian life is introducing friends, family, tour clients, readers - whoever will listen to me - to the wines and treasures of our area! Please come and visit. Perhaps I can even turn you into a runner ;).

Though you're not supposed to, everyone sort of judges a book by its cover, and the first impression is always so important. So it's just to say: sometimes I go for the most tasteful or beautiful label, too, with my decision based solely on aesthetics!

Its not surprising why so many people found the same bottle being the producer that they are with such history and such a popular arneis in our market in the states. Its a shame though that many more arent accessible for you there. I thought of doing the same pairing too ; )

I enjoy getting comments and feedback from my audience. Please let me know what you think, keeping in mind that we are all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions. I am happy to hear yours as long as they are stated nicely.